We're Still Standing Tall
by laurzz
Summary: DannyLindsay. Twoshot songfic. "Let me catch you Lindsay, give me the chance to make this better"
1. He don't love you like i love you

**A/N: Big thanks to twinkeyrocks and kcatlin for their help on this one. **

**Disclaimer: Speak to AZ... **

**Song titles used are chapter titles. **

**Enjoy:)**

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Danny Messer slumped on the couch.

Another waste of a day. Another excuse for not speaking to Lindsay. Another reason for not acting like he should. Another reason for shutting the world out.

He wanted to change, he really did, but something was stopping him. The niggling inside wouldn't let him open up to her, let her in.

He rested his head against the back and sighed, letting out all the day's demons.

It was days like today that he realized that he really didn't deserve a woman like Lindsay Monroe. Inside, beyond the demons that were making him shut her out; he thought the little post it notes, addressing her worry, was cute, touching almost.

He closed his eyes for a minute, blocking out the song currently whirling around his head. He'd done everything to prevent himself from looking at Lindsay, speaking to Lindsay and most of all thinking about Lindsay. Technically, his plan should have worked. She on the night shift, him on the day shift. However, of all days he needed a case to sink his teeth into, New York's murderers had been on a sabbatical, leaving Danny to mull around in the office, finishing up paperwork, getting sidetracked, and looking at Lindsay's desk. All day.

At a quarter to six, he had headed for the locker room, so that by the time six came along, he didn't have to make small talk, didn't have to force a smile, didn't have to regret not calling her Montana.

But, as he wandered, mindlessly into the locker room, there stood his girlfriend, a term that now, although it pained him to say it, he used loosely, with her head resting against her locker, bracing herself for, what he expected to be the longest night shift she had ever done.

"Hey" he had said lightly, trying to avoid the tension, break the ice.

She looked at him, slammed her locker shut, and then, headed out the locker room, no words exchanged on her part.

He ran his hand down his face as he looked round his empty apartment. The color and laughter she had once brought into his life had Disappeared when she left. As cliché as it was, she was the light in his life. Without her, he wasn't the same guy; a piece of him was missing. Without Lindsay Monroe, he wasn't Danny Messer.

He didn't know whether to cry, sleep, or eat. With her, he had routine, normalcy in his life. Without her, he, well, didn't.

On his way home from work he had tried desperately to get her out of his head. Turning on radio in a desperate last attempt to distract himself, as he drove home from the lab he sighed, every song had either been country, a break up song, or a song that generally reminded him of Lindsay

After flicking through some 10 radio stations, he finally gave up and left it on one, thinking he was safe, he only had about 4 blocks to drive, and they were on commercials anyway.

_Tell me we've been here before, and I will walk away from your love  
For there is a wall between you and I,  
He hasn't been treating you right,  
I've been watching it all; I've seen you cry,  
I just got to tell you tonight_

The song had been right; he hadn't been treating her right, far from it. He knew she deserved the world, and he couldn't give that to her. He couldn't even give her himself. He had barriers, walls, she had slowly broken down, but still, there were walls, and, truth to be told, no matter how hard he tried, how hard she tried, they'd be there for a lifetime.

He had sat and watched her cry on many occasions. On the days after the trial, the day after the hostage siege. But, he'd only watched her cry over him on one occasion, and that was today. He could deal with her pain when it came to things he couldn't control, simply because he kept telling himself that, he couldn't control it, instead he could be there drying the tears, doing anything and everything in his power to make it better. Knowing he couldn't fix her heart break, when it was him that had inflicted the pain on her, broke his own heart.

He had stopped at the stop light, taking in the song, tears threatening to  
fall

_He don't love you I like you,  
Don't think about you like I think about you,  
He don't wanna have your children,  
He don't wanna build his life around you._

Listening to a song, he realized that it could quite easily be some random guy, singing to Lindsay. His Lindsay, his Montana. Convincing her to leave his sorry ass. Make a life with someone else, someone deserving, and someone who would treat her like how she deserved to betreated.

What had he been thinking? Everything had applied to him, before. But now, now he wanted all of that. He wanted Lindsay, a life with her. Sure, he loved her, 100 percent, he loved her... And he thought about her, that's all he did, all day every day. Think about Lindsay, dream about Lindsay, his life revolved around Lindsay. It still did

_And he doesn't know darling, what he's got,  
But I will treasure you  
If you give me a chance, I will make you smile,  
I'll give a love that's true_ .

He knew he needed to get his ass in gear. Lindsay was beautiful, smart, funny, to name but a few. All it needed was for her to go to some bar, and pick up some guy and him to woo her with a few lines then boom, she'd be gone. Not that she would go to a bar, and let herself be easily 'wooed'.

He knew with Lindsay, he had the world. He just took her for granted. He'd fallen for her hard, and Danny Messer being Danny Messer, didn't know how to deal with the new feelings he was battling. Sure, he'd screwed up hundreds of times before, but, before he hadn't needed to fix it. So what, he broke up with the girlfriend of the week, he'd move onto the next girl. But, with Lindsay, it wasn't like that. He treasured her, he just needed that chance to show her that his love was there, and it was true. Just in a roundabout way

He sat up and headed for the door

"Go wit' your instincts"


	2. Us against the world

**A/N: And, Lindsay's point of view. :) Follows on from the scene in the locker room **

**Again, enjoy:)**

Lindsay sighed as she walked into the NYPD crime lab, knowing he was going to be there.

She knew he was deliberately avoiding her, and it hurt like hell. She wanted to be there, just to help.

When he had walked into the locker room, she had felt him, smelt his cologne, sensed his presence. She missed him. She wanted her boyfriend back. She wanted her Danny back; she just didn't know how to get what she wanted back.

She wanted to fall into his arms, let him catch her, but, she simply walked past him, not breathing a word.

Now, 3 hours later, after listening to the same song on repeat, everything was slowly beginning to fall into place.

_You and I, we've been at it so long, still got the strongest fire  
you and I, we still know how to talk, know how to walk that wire.  
Sometimes, I feel like the world is against me, sound of your voice  
baby that's what saves me  
When we're together I feel so invincible_

They had both been fighting for them, since that day in the hallway at the precinct; both had been fighting their feelings, just so that she could deal with her past. Even in the darkest days when she had wanted to curl up in a ball as opposed to trudging out into New York City to process some crime scene at 3am, his voice was the voice that kept her world from falling apart. It was the voice of reason, her voice of reason. In the courtroom, when he had followed her to Montana, she had felt invincible. Without Danny, without that encouragement, she would have probably crumbled, but, with him there, she made the statement, told her story, and in effect, she got Daniel Cadence sent down, for good...

Now, where had the voice of reason in her life gone?

_Cause us against the world, you and me against them all  
If you're listening to these words, know that we're standing tall  
I don't ever want to see the day I won't catch you when you fall_

She knew, that deep down, even though he wasn't around anymore, that he obviously didn't care like he used to, he would catch her. No matter what, she knew that when push came to shove, she would be able to depend on Danny Messer to pick her back up when she fell. She knew emotion was hard for him, she knew he was terrified of losing her. She just needed to try and make him understand that no matter what, it was them against the world.

_They'll be days when we're both on different sides, but that doesn't  
last too long,  
We find ways to get it on track; we know how to turn back on  
Sometimes I feel like I can't keep it together, then you hold me  
close, and make it all better_

How she longed for his embrace, it was something she was longing for more and more often. She knew they'd get over the bump, just when and how, were the factors she didn't know. She longed for Danny to snap out of the bubble he was in. She needed him, just like she knew he needed her. They were just too damn stubborn to realize it together. She wanted him to make everything better, like he did, sometimes without even realizing.

She turned the CD player off, she was after all, at work, and really couldn't afford to breakdown in front of her colleagues. She wouldn't allow herself to. She composed herself, and decided on a break. She closed her case file, and headed to the break room. She turned the corner, not paying attention, and suddenly, she bumped into someone. Expecting to hit the floor, she braced herself, but she was stopped, by a pair of strong arms. A pair of arms, that brought back millions of memories.

She opened her tear-filled eyes, and saw him. He was there, he'd caught her, even when she was falling, he was there. Bearing in mind, he'd been the one to knock her down. But, what mattered was that he was there. He'd been there, to fix it. To pick her back up

"Let me catch you Lindsay, give me the chance to make this better"

"You just did Danny"

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End file.
